Beehive.



BEEHIVE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Application filed July 3, 1914. Serial No. 848,871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BACON a citizen of the United States, resident of Grand Junction, in the county of Mesa and State of Colorado, have made a certain new and useful Invention in Beehives; and I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention, as applied to a box. Fig. 2 is a detail horizontal section of the device as applied to a box corner. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device as applied to a box corner, showing the extension overlying the kerf. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device as applied to a box corner, the extension being omitted. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the blank showing at the top the flange extensions, and at the bottom omitting the flange extensions. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the corner piece, showing the flange extensions. Fig. 7 is a similar view, omitting the flange extensions.

The object of the invention is to provide a strong and durable box or hive for bees, and it consists in the novel construction and combinations of devices, as hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, the numerals 2 and 3 indicate the side and end walls of the case or hive, whereof the top and bottom are usually separable. In order that these side and end walls shall preserve their rectangular relation to each other at the corner junctions, the following devices are provided: Each side is provided with a kerf 4, parallel to its end. and distant therefrom about three quarters of an inch, said kerf extending into the wood from the outer surface of the wall. Each end wall is also provided with a kerf 5, about three-quarters of an inch from its end and parallel to said end, the construction being, in this case, such that the end wall is located between the side walls, and abuts against their ends.

In order to secure the side walls to the end wall, sheet metal corner-pieces 6, of special construction, are employed. This corner-piece 6 is designed to extend from the bottom to the top of the wall and also to engage the bottom and top of the wall. To that end a blank, indicated at 7, is provided, said blank having the end offsets 8 and 9. To form the corner piece the blank is bent along the middle of its length, at r ght angles, as indicated at 11 to form vertical body portions; and its longitudinal marginal portions are also bent at right angles and-inward, to provide holding vert1cal flanges 12, designed to engage the kerfs of the end and side walls, the dimensions of the corner piece being such that when the marginal holding flanges are in engagement with the kerfs of these walls, the middle angle of the corner-piece will engage the corner of the box or case. The offsets or horizontal flanges 8 and 9, at the ends of the blank, are bent inward at right angles to the length of the corner piece, and these right-angle offsets are designed to engage the ends of the end and side walls, one of said offsets overlappingthe other, and at the top of the hive covering in the end of the kerf of the wall by a lateral extensipn 1 1, of each horizontal flange.

The corner piece is provided in each side with one or two apertures 15, for a securing nail, and the offsets are also provided with perforations 16, for a holding nail. The lnner offset braces the corner-piece in right angle form at its end by engagement with the wall of the corner-piece at 17. The rectangular wall constructed with these corner-pieces is designed to preserve its form, on account of the strong bracing against horizontal as well as oblique distortion. The rectangular wall is therefore of durable character, and ready at all times to closely engage and fit the bottom or base and the top or cover of the hive.

' The metallic laps or offsets at the ends of the corner-pieces not only protect the corners of the wall and hold them in position, but also serve as bearings for the introduction and use of a prying instrument, when it becomes necessary to lift the top or cover of the hive, which the bees always seal down.

The horizontal top flanges have each a length equal to the thickness of the wall of the hive. The lateral extension of each top flange has also a length equal to the thickness of said wall and is located immediately adjacent to the corresponding vertical flange of the body portion of the corner piece and to the joint between top flange and body portion. In most cases the kerf in one wall is located beyond the inner side of the other wall, the body portions of the corner piece being each of a breadth greater than the thickness of the hive Wall. The lateral extension of the top flange bent down from each body portion of the corner piece and of a length equal to the thickness of the side wall of the boX closes the kerf in that portion of its length extending the depth of the kerf from the joint between top flange and body portion.

I claim:

In bee hives and similar structures, an-

; gularly related vertical WZLllS having their thereof adjacent to said vertical flange a lateral extension projecting at right angles to the length of said top flange transversely across and closing said kerf, said lateral extension having an effective kerf-closing length from the joint between top flange imdf body portion equal to the depth of the er In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence'of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. BACON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each; by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washingtoml). 0. 

